Technical Field
The invention relates to a control technique for a drive device that performs drive control of a motor by controlling the power supplied to the motor.
Background Art
As the interest in environmental issues has been growing in recent years, battery-powered electric automobiles using an onboard battery as a power source (referred to hereinbelow simply as “electric automobiles”) have attracted attention. In an electric automobile, a motor such as a three-phase AC motor is installed as a power source. Also installed are a drive device, such as an inverter, that converts the DC power supplied from the onboard battery into AC power and supplies the converted power to the motor, and a controller (VCU (vehicle control unit)) that controls the drive device. The controller adjusts various command values, such as a torque command, which are provided to the drive device, according to a driver's operation, and the drive device adjusts the power, which is supplied to the motor, according to the command value provided from the controller. As a result, the torque or revolution speed of the motor changes and travel control corresponding to the driving operation is realized. Further, the controller acquires, through a signal line, various data (for example, parameter information such as motor constants, or data representing a current value of each phase) that have been stored in the memory of the drive device and also executes the processing of controlling the display of various meters on the basis of those data. As a result, the drive can determine a vehicle state.